As well known in the embroidery industry, before embroidery material is embroidered by an automated machine, the portion of the material to be embroidered must first be placed within a matched pair of rings forming an embroidery hoop. The matched pair of embroidery rings comprise inner and outer rings such that when the two rings are properly mounted on the article to be embroidered, the smaller or inner ring fits snugly inside the larger or outer ring with portions of the material of the article pinched between the rings. The hoop, comprised of the inner and outer rings, of course, can be of any closed configuration such as circular, rectangular, D-shaped or otherwise. Embroidery hoops are used to ensure that the area of the article to be embroidered is stretched tightly and evenly between the hoop rings to ensure that the embroidery is even and not distorted, as well as to facilitate handling of the article to be embroidered. Certain automated embroidery machines also require the use of hoops for proper operation.
The embroidery industry is generally segmented into commercial and household markets. In the commercial market, the hoops are mounted for use in custom die sets. The article to be embroidered is positioned over one of the rings and a mechanical press forces the rings together with the material of the article to be embroidered secured between the rings. In the household market, the rings of the embroidery hoop are mounted onto the article by hand. Particularly, the area of the material to be embroidered is positioned over the outer ring and the inner ring is then placed over the material and manually forced into the outer ring. One device particularly useful in the household market for assisting the embroiderer in this aspect is described and illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,784,988.
In both the commercial and household markets, however, the embroidery must first be located on the material, for example, a garment such as a tee-shirt, sleeve or pant leg or on flat goods such as towels, sheets and the like, all hereafter individually or collectively called an article or articles. Typically, the center of the embroidery is marked on the article and additional markings are applied to the article to attempt to align the article and the hoop. If the article and hoop are not properly aligned, the resulting embroidery on the article is not straight relative to the article. For example, the embroidery may be canted or angled or positioned above, below, to the right or left of the desired position. Consequently, it is highly desirable to ensure straight hooping without excessive marking of the article or repeated rehooping to properly and correctly align the article and hoop.